Behind the wall
by schelle73
Summary: Horatio receives a phone call; Stetler has crossed the line.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I'm just borrowing them. I'll put 'em back when I'm done, just a little worn out maybe.

Rated R

Rick Stetler seethed as Horatio Caine walked away. Who did he think he was, anyway? Caine had threatened him, told him he would kill him if he ever laid a hand on Yelina. As if. Caine needed to get over himself. And as for that bitch, she would get her comeuppance; he would make sure of that.

Yelina had called Horatio and gotten him involved in "their" business again. That kid of hers didn't know how to stay out of trouble for even one weekend while they were gone. He'd run from his grandmother's home, and Yelina decided to call Horatio so he'd step in. By the time they had gotten back into town, Horatio had found the kid and gotten the case taken care of sans Ray Jr. Whoopee for Horatio. And the way the man mooned over Yelina and Ray Jr. when he and Yelina came to pick the kid up. Please. The man needs to get a life of his own and stop drooling over someone else's. That kid needed someone to teach him a lesson on how to act.

Rick, needlessly in his mind, again reminded Horatio Caine that he needed to finish his counseling regarding Tim Speedle's shooting. The shooting was regrettable, avoidable as far as he was concerned, kid should have cleaned his weapon. Horatio should have run a tighter ship.

Rick Stetler drove over to Yelina Salas' house for dinner with her and her son Ray Jr. Things were going okay. It seemed as if Horatio Caine were finally starting to get his nose out of their business. He had heard from a reliable source Caine was getting it on with the A.D.A Maybe with her on his mind he could stop mooning over Yelina. And, hopefully, once he stopped mooning over Yelina, and she realized she wasn't getting him back, she could stop mooning over Horatio every time she saw him. And get down to the business of taking care of him, Rick Stetler, for a change.

Rick helped get the plates on the table for dinner.

"Where's Ray?" he asked.

"He's upstairs in his room, he said he didn't feel like eating right now."

"Well, as far as I am concerned, he is going to get his butt down here and eat with us," said Rick.

Rick stomped up the stairs and threw open Ray Jr's bedroom door. "Get those headphones off, and come down to dinner."

Ray Jr. scowled at Rick; he didn't want to eat dinner with him. When was his mom going to get a clue? "Don't feel like it."

"I said come down to dinner, and you're going to do what I tell you," stated Rick. He pulled Ray Jr off the bed and led him downstairs.

Yelina saw Ray Jr and smiled. "Hi, you decided to join us, eh?"

"Join you? I didn't know I had a choice. This jerk hauled me down here," complained Ray.

Yelina tried to smile again. "Well, since you're down here, why don't you have a bite to eat with us?"

Ray Jr. slouched into the nearest chair, watching his mom and 'Stetler' sit in the other two. After taking a few bites, he felt he was done with this charade, and got up to leave the table. He went back upstairs to his room, replacing his headphones and drowning out what was going on downstairs. Why his mom was with that man instead of Uncle Horatio was beyond him. He knew she still wanted him, and he could tell Horatio wanted her. What was the big deal anyway?

Downstairs, Rick and Yelina were talking about their day. Rick mentioned what had been going on with Horatio today, and what he had felt a need to tell him. Yelina asked Rick why he didn't just leave Horatio alone, striking a spark in Rick that would have been better unlit.

Rebecca stood a little ways from Horatio, listening as he told her of his recurring nightmare based on the day Speed got shot. Her heart broke for him in the listening. She reassured him the best way she knew for now, and reminded him that his gun did fire. She kneeled down in front of him, her heart in her throat; she was taking a big step. She clasped her fingers around his.

"Ma'am?"

"Sir."

Horatio's cell phone rang.

Horatio glanced apologetically at Rebecca as he pulled his cell phone out and answered it.

"Caine."

"Uncle Horatio? I need your help! Mom needs your help! We need your help! Please, come over to our house. Quick!" yelled Ray Jr. frantically.

Horatio heard Stetler's voice in the background, "Kid! Who are you calling? That damn Horatio? Give me that phone!"

"Ray? Ray? Ray?!"

The phone was dead.

"Rebecca, I'm sorry, I'm needed."

Horatio ran out the door, and jumped in his Hummer. He called the police department on his cell phone, and asked for Detective Tripp.

"Frank? Call up Calleigh and Eric, and have them meet me at Detective Salas's house, and bring an ambulance with you, just in case."

Horatio hung up the phone as he swung around another corner. He pulled onto the street Yelina lived on and saw a pair of taillights turning off at the other end. Stetler's? He wasn't sure, but he didn't see any other vehicles in the driveway as he pulled in and raced from the Hummer to the front door.

"Yelina!? Ray!?"

No one answered and the front door was unlocked. Horatio raced inside, gun drawn. He walked carefully in, and saw nothing in the living room and dining room. As he slid around the wall from the dining room to the kitchen, his heart landed in his throat. Yelina lay crumpled by the kitchen wall, lying in a puddle of blood. She had been badly beaten.

"Yelina?" Horatio raced to her side. She looked like she was barely breathing. He gently felt for a pulse, and with a little work he found one. It was slow and weak. "Hang on, Yelina." Horatio said with a lump in his throat. Then he looked up. "Ray!?"

Horatio stood up, confident only in the fact that he trusted Frank to do what he asked. He hated having to leave Yelina, but he needed to find Ray. He rushed up the stairs, still holding his gun and keeping an eye out for Stetler. He cleared Yelina's room, and eased into Ray Jr's room. Stetler wasn't there, but Ray was. Horatio gasped. Ray was lying on his floor, the phone inches from him. Apparently Stetler had grabbed the phone from Ray Jr, and used it to knock him out. Horatio ran to him.

"Ray?" There was no answer. Horatio felt for Ray's pulse, and was reassured. Ray's pulse was strong and steady. Horatio picked up Ray Jr and carried him downstairs and placed him gently on the couch in the living room. Then he went back to Yelina; was she still breathing? He held his breath until he could see her take a shallow breath herself. He wanted to take her in his arms, carry her to his Hummer, and take her to the hospital. But Frank had to be nearly here, and he was bringing an ambulance with him. She was still alive for now, and they needed to conserve the DNA on her, to get Stetler. He bent over her, kissed her forehead. "Yelina, you hang on, okay? You hang on."

He stood up as he heard vehicles in the driveway, and the siren of the ambulance. He raced out of the house to tell the paramedics where Yelina and Ray Jr. were. Frank came over to meet him, followed closely by Calleigh and Eric. Horatio filled them in on the phone call and what he had found in the house. He asked Calleigh and Eric to process the house and told them that he was going to the hospital with Ray Jr and Yelina. Horatio turned to leave when Frank grabbed his arm. "You got to tell me what you know about what happened here, Horatio." He sighed deeply and gave Frank his statement.

The ambulance had already left when Horatio was done, and he obeyed no speed laws getting to the hospital himself. Horatio raced into the parking lot of the hospital and threw his Hummer into park, not caring a how he was parked. He raced into the emergency room, and asked at the nurses' desk where Yelina and Ray Jr. were. Yelina was already in surgery, he was directed to the area where Ray was. He took a deep breath, and walked through the curtain to where Ray was. Ray Jr was still unconscious, and had a large bruise on his temple. The doctor in the room with him assured him Ray would be okay, but they were going to admit him overnight for observation. Horatio compressed his lips and nodded his head. He looked back at Ray again, and took his hand. "Ray, I'm going to go check on your mom, I'll see you soon. I won't leave here without you."

Horatio headed to the elevator and rode it to the level the O.R. was on. The hall was quiet; he let the nurse at the station know he was there. He then went to the reception area, but he wasn't able to sit down. He leaned against the wall, waiting anxiously for any news. Horatio leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes. The past raced through his mind, all the missed opportunities; all that could have been. Time seemed to be crawling; it felt like it had been ages since he had walked up here. He heard footsteps in the hall, looking up he saw Rebecca.

"Any news?" she asked.

"I haven't heard anything yet."

"I stopped in the emergency room, and then to Ray Jr's room. He's awake and asking for you."

"Alright, they've had Yelina for a while. I hope to hear something soon, then I'll go check on him."

"It would be good to get a statement from him about what he knows, but we can't take anything officially without a guardian present," Rebecca said.

"Yelina is not going to be in any condition to be there with him, or give her consent. I'll talk to him."

"Horatio, if you want to use anything he says, he needs to have a guardian present. You're not his guardian, just his uncle. You want to get the guy that did this; we need to do something to get an official statement. Even file a complaint, get a warrant, anything."

"Whatever you're trying to tell me, get to the point, please."

"We can file an emergency injunction to assign you as his guardian, get a judge to sign it. Then you can be there while another one of your people talks to Ray."

"If that is what needs to be done, then do it. I'll worry about the repercussions with Yelina when she is alert and ready."

Rebecca nodded her head, touched Horatio's arm consolingly, and turned to walk down the hall. As she turned the end, the O.R. doors opened and a doctor came out.

"Lieutenant Caine."

"How is she doing?"

"It was touch and go, we lost her once on the table, but if she's strong, she'll pull through. We'll know more in the morning, she needs to make it through the night."

Horatio nodded, swallowing past another lump in his throat.

"She's in recovery right now, in a few hours we'll move her to her room."

"Alright, I'll be in her son's room. Let me know when she is there?"

"Sure thing."

Horatio walked down the hall to the elevator, rode it to Ray's floor and went to find his room. He poked his head in and saw Ray was awake.

"Hey buddy. How's your head?"

"Uncle Horatio!"

"That was a brave thing you did. I am very glad you called me."

"Ahh, man. That guy is a jerk. How's my mom?"

Horatio turned to close the door and turned back to look at him. He sat on the edge of the bed by Ray and looked closely at him.

"She … um… I … she'll make it. She's in pretty bad shape."

"I heard all the noise downstairs, even through my headphones. I went down there to see what was going on. I saw him knock her into the wall. She didn't look good."

Horatio moved to put his arm around Ray's shoulders, and Ray dove into the shelter offered, burying his head into Horatio's shoulder. Horatio held him tightly. He heard Ray take several jagged breaths.

"I wanted to run and do the same thing to him! He was hurting my mom! I couldn't think of what else to do, except call you!" Ray's voice cracked in anger. He wrapped an arm fiercely around Horatio's shoulder holding on tighter. Horatio held Ray's body even closer. He took a deep breath so he could speak.

"You did the right thing, Ray. I'll always be here for you and your mom," Horatio said, clenching his jaw, fighting his own tears. His hands trembled as he placed one on the back of Ray's head, cradling it. A fiery surge of anger swept through his body. By God, he would get Stetler, and he would make him pay. Nobody hurt his family.

Ray was trying to be strong; he was trying so hard not to cry. Horatio could feel his body shaking, and he gently rocked on the bed as he held him, comforting him.

There was a knock at the door. Horatio gently sat Ray back down on the edge of the bed, rubbed his hand over his face, and got up to answer the door. Eric and Calleigh were standing in the hallway. He looked back at Ray and told him he would be right back, and stepped out into the hallway.

Calleigh stuck her head briefly through the door. "Hi Ray, you doing okay?"

Ray had moved up to the head of the bed, leaning against the headboard, and folded his knees up to his chest. He glanced at Calleigh and said, "I guess."

Eric moved closer to the doorway so he could see Ray. "Think it would be alright if I came in here and sat with you while Calleigh talks to Horatio?" Ray nodded his head. Eric stepped into the room and shut the door partway. Horatio glanced back and could see him pulling a chair up close to the bed so he could talk to Ray.

"What've you got for me?"

Calleigh looked closely at Horatio, she would have thought he would have looked angrier, sad even. It looked like he had distanced himself from his emotions. His face was drawn and pale. His fists were clenched, the only outward sign of what he must have been feeling.

"We collected fingerprints from the phone upstairs, as well as throughout the house. They'll probably lead us to Rick Stetler, but that may not be enough. He has been in the house regularly. They won't give us any additional information, or proof. We need something more compelling."

"Like something from Yelina. She's out of surgery, and should be out of recovery shortly. Let's see what she collected for us."

"I brought you a small kit, I thought you might want to collect that yourself."

"Thank you Calleigh, I believe I do. As soon as she is in her room, I'll go see her."

"Has Ray told you anything yet? We don't have much for a warrant yet."

Horatio took a deep breath; she saw a quick flash of anger in his eyes, and just as quickly buried.

"No. The A.D.A. is pulling some strings so that when we do this, the package on Stetler is wrapped tight. We don't want him getting out of this, at all."

"Frank sent a car to Stetler's house, but he wasn't there. We're keeping an eye out for him."

"Keep me posted."

Calleigh turned to walk back down the hall and Horatio turned to go back into Ray's room. He saw the Eric was still talking to Ray; he stood looking in for a minute. Then he turned to find the reception room, and a cup of coffee. As he was returning to Ray's room a nurse caught him, and told him Yelena was being taken to her room. Horatio continued to Ray's room and stepped in. Eric was still talking to Ray.

"Hey Ray, you're mom is getting into a room of her own. I'd like to go check on her and see how she is doing. You going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay."

"Hey H, I can sit with him a little while longer. There's not much more we can do at the lab right now."

"You sure, Eric?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, thank you."

Horatio looked at Ray. Ray nodded his head.

"Okay. I will see you soon, Ray."

"Okay, hey, let my mom know I'm okay, tell her I love her," said Ray

"I will do that."

As Horatio walked towards Yelina's room, he met Rebecca.

"Sir."

"Ma'am," Horatio said slowly.

"I've filed the paperwork, found a judge at home and had him sign it. It's done. Whenever you and Ray are ready we can start this."

"Yeah, um, great. Right now, I'm headed over to check on Yelina, and Ray should get some rest first. We'll probably do it in the morning."

"You need some company?"

"Um… No. I think I'm going to sit with her for a while. Let her know that Ray is okay."

Rebecca looked intently at Horatio's face, and in his eyes. "You are still in love with her," she said smiling. "Go on, go be with her. And when she wakes up, tell her." Rebecca walked away. He watched her, his eyes creased slightly, thinking.

Horatio walked quietly into her room and shut the door. He glanced, worriedly, at the respirator, IV pole and lines, and the heart monitor. He looked at her, and it pained him deeply to see all of these things going into her. He ached to see her so misused. Black eyes, and cuts on her face, stitches closing the deepest ones, and blood still oozing out of them. He sighed; he needed to collect evidence from her nails. He sat down by her, and brushed his hand over her hair, splayed out on the pillow behind her. He promised her silently that Stetler would pay for this, dearly. He picked up her hands, caressing them, and laid them out on the blanket. He collected samples from under her fingernails, hoping, hoping, she had fought back, and that she hadn't convinced herself somehow that she had deserved it.

When he was done, he held his hand over hers. He looked at her, and silently told her he loved her. "Please Yelina," he thought, "pull through. Be strong. Make it, for me, for Ray. I need you. Ray needs you."

"Ray told me to tell you he's okay, and that he loves you," he said out loud to her.

He stood up and looked at her. He took a paper towel, wet it, and cleaned some of the fresh blood off her face, gently. He touched her hands again, they seemed to be the only place he could touch her without the fear of hurting her more.

He sat down in the chair, pulling it close to the bed, and sat watching her breathe.

A little while later, a nurse came in to hang a new I.V. bag. Horatio stepped out into the hall, and saw Eric coming his way.

"Hey."

"Hey, H. I thought I would come and let you know, Ray is asleep. Did Yelina get anything for us?"

"Let's hope so." Horatio handed the scrapings from Yelina's fingernails to Eric.

"I'll get these back to the lab and see what we can get with them."

"Thank you, Eric."

The nurse came back out of the room, and Eric headed down the hall. Horatio walked back into Yelina's room. He settled back into the chair, to wait the night out, and see what morning brought.

Morning came. Yelina had made it through the night. Horatio wiped his hand over his face and glanced at the monitors, nothing had changed. The nurse came in, to change Yelina's IV and clean her up. Horatio left the room, and walked down to the visitor's reception room to get something to snack on. Calleigh found him there.

"Calleigh. Anything new?"

"We processed the fingerprints and the scrapings you got from Yelina's nails. There was tissue there. The fingerprints are definitely Stetler's. We haven't confirmed the DNA yet."

"We will. Let's go talk to Ray, see how he's feeling. You and I can talk to him, see what we can do to get a warrant on Stetler."

Horatio and Calleigh went to Ray's room to find him up and moving around.

"Hey buddy, ready to get out of here?"

"Hey. Yeah. How's mom?"

"She's going to be okay. You want to go your grandma's or your aunt's until she's home?"

"Nah, take me to your place. I'll feel better there, and if you have to go, I'll be alright till you get back."

"Alright, let's go."

Horatio and Ray Jr. drove to Horatio's apartment, Calleigh followed. They all walked into the apartment together. Horatio led them to the living room, and had Ray and Calleigh sit down. Horatio leaned against the wall, not ready to sit down to hear this.

"Ray, I need to ask you some questions about last night. Horatio is going to be here for you during the tough parts, okay?"

Ray glanced at Horatio, who nodded. "Yeah, okay."

After Ray Jr had left the table, he had gone upstairs to his room, and put his headphones back on. He didn't want to hear any of what almost always happened downstairs. He just wondered when his mom would get tired of it and stop seeing Stetler. The yelling started downstairs, and he turned up the sound. He heard glass shattering and shook his head. Then he had heard the pounding, like someone hitting the wall. That had him taking off his headphones and going downstairs to see what was going on. He had turned the corner into the kitchen and saw Stetler hitting his mom. She had looked at Ray and shook her head. Ray had run back upstairs, grabbing the phone out of his mom's room and running to his bedroom. He had called Horatio, and was talking to him when Stetler slammed the door to his room open. He had grabbed the phone out of Ray's hand, and the last thing Ray remembered was seeing the phone coming towards him.

Ray Jr. stopped talking, and took a deep breath. Sometime during that, Horatio had sat beside him on the couch; his hand was on his back, supporting him. Ray looked at him. Horatio rubbed his back and nodded his head.

"Alright Ray?"

Ray nodded his head, and Horatio handed him his handkerchief, Ray had lost a few tears.

Calleigh looked up from her writing. She smiled a quick, short smile at Ray.

"Okay, that should do it."

She looked at Horatio. "That should be plenty to get us a warrant. I'll get it over to Frank and we'll start things moving."

"Alright, Calleigh. Thank you. Keep me posted, will you?"

"Sure thing."

Calleigh left, and Horatio stayed on the couch with Ray Jr. for a while. They sat back on the couch, Ray curling up against Horatio's body. It hurt Horatio so much to see him like this. A new surge of anger filled him.

At lunchtime Horatio got up to make them some lunch. After they ate, he took a quick shower.

"I'm going to go check on your mom, you want to come along?"

"Nah, thanks, I don't want to go back to the hospital yet. Maybe tomorrow."

Horatio locked the door behind him and headed out. He called Eric and asked him if he would mind going to his apartment and sitting with Ray.

"Not a problem, H."

Horatio drove to the hospital, parked and walked in. He took an elevator up to the intensive care unit, and asked the nurse how Yelina was doing. "The doctor saw her today. He said the swelling has gone down, she should be waking up soon."

He walked into her room, leaving the door cracked slightly. The room was quieter today, the heart monitor had been removed and she wasn't on the respirator either. The I.V. pump and her breathing were the only noises in the room. Horatio's jaw tightened as he looked at Yelina's face, and heard Ray's words again about what had happened. He debated, briefly, on sitting down and waiting for her to wake-up, and rejected the idea.

He walked up to her side, "Yelina? Can you hear me?" he asked as he gently touched her cheek.

"Yelina?" He put his hand over hers. "If you can hear me, do something to let me know. Grab my hand, look at me, something."

Yelina's fingers flexed, slightly, weakly folding into his hand. "There you go, that's my girl."

Horatio looked at the fingers that had folded into his head, caressing them with is thumb. He shut his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Yelina, we're going to find him, and I am going to make him pay, do you hear me? I came too close to losing you last night; I don't want that to ever happen again. I … uh…"

A knock sounded on Yelina's door. Horatio gently put down her hand and stepped to the door to see who was there. It was Frank; Horatio stepped out into the hallway to talk to him.

"Frank?"

"Horatio, the department is all in an uproar, taking sides. A lot of people know that you and Rick have had it out for one another. The I.A.B. is up in arms; say you're trying to stick this on him with nothing more than fingerprints and your nephew's statement. And the fingerprints are no big jump, him and Yelina seeing one another hasn't been any kind of secret. We got to get something more on him, or this is going to pot."

"Frank, I am not trying to stick it to him. He did this…"

"I know that," Frank interrupted.

"He did this, you and your men catch him and bring him in, and the DNA we got from her will prove it. And if he is not any smarter than this, we will find her blood on him, no matter how small a drop it is."

"That's another problem, Horatio. We ain't findin' him. He's not at home, he had already signed for a day off today. He could be any one of a million places."

Horatio's face flushed at the thought, but he said, "Check at Yelina's house again, he may have gone back there, figuring that was the last place we would look for him. He's got to know we have a warrant by now."

Frank nodded his head and walked down the hall; Horatio turned and walked through back through the door, into Yelina's room. He looked up after closing the door and found her looking at him.

"Hey," Horatio said.

"Hey."

"I'm glad to see you awake."

"I heard you talking outside. Was it Frank?"

"Uh… yeah, yeah, it was Frank."

"You're trying to find Rick, and you think he is back at my house? Ray called you? How is he?"

"Ray is fine, he's back at my apartment right now. They admitted him overnight, and he didn't want to come back so quick."

"Horatio…"

"Yelina…"

They both said at the same time, and briefly smiled.

"I want to thank you, for getting me here. I… uh…."

"Yelina, you could have come to me, I wish you had." He shook his head. "I'm glad Ray called me, if I had known, this never would have happened. I am glad I was able to get there, and you here in time."

"I couldn't…"

"Yelina, listen. I, um, I almost lost you last night. I don't want that to happen. The doctor said..." He took a deep breath. "The doctor said they lost you once on the table. That… that scared me, it really did. Even when you were with someone else, you were still here. But, I can't imagine you not being here, at all. Yelina… I …"

"Horatio, don't. Don't lead me to believe that we have something that we don't have. Stop trying to protect me; always trying to say the right thing."

"I'm not, Yelina. I want to tell you, I love you. I realized last night how much I did. It nearly ripped my heart out seeing you on that floor."

Yelina looked at Horatio and didn't speak. Then she wet her lips slowly, and said, "I love you, too."

Horatio smiled, and leaned over to give her a kiss and brushed his fingers through her hair.

"Ok, you get some rest, now. I'll be back soon, I'm going to go check on Ray, feed him some dinner. See how they are coming on finding Stetler."

Horatio went to his apartment and sat for a while with Ray. He fed him dinner, read him a story, and saw him off to sleep before quietly shutting the apartment door behind him. Frank had called him earlier; they still hadn't found Stetler, not even at Yelina's house. His eyes searched the shadows, wondering where he could be hiding.

Yelina had been moved out of intensive care into a different hall. The hallway her room was on was dimly lit, normal visiting hours were over, but no one stopped him. He showed his I.D. to the nurse sitting at the station; she nodded her head and smiled. Yelina's room was dark; he thought she must have been resting again. He walked in quietly without turning any lights on; he would sit with her until she was awake again. He smiled slightly as he turned to close the door, and felt something hit his head. Horatio's body slumped to the ground.

The man in the room dragged Horatio over to the chair, taping his ankles, calves, hands, forearms, and upper arms to the chair. He bound his mouth shut, how he hated listening to his mouth. He turned the light above Yelina's bed. She blinked in the sudden light, and gasped when she saw the man's face.

"Rick!"

"Hello, Yelina. Long time no see? I see ole lover boy came to see you. Did you call him up, too?"

Yelina shook her head "He got me here…"

"Yes, I know. I caught your son calling him. So, tell me, did he tell you what you wanted to hear? All you ever hoped and dreamed to hear from him? Sure it's all true?"

Yelina opened her mouth to speak.

"You really sure, Yelina? It's not like he doesn't have a history of telling you things, or not telling you things to soothe your feelings, and keep you mooning over him because of it. You tell me. Did it hurt you more to believe that little girl was his, or would it have hurt you more to know she was Ray's? She is, you know. Horatio knew, and I knew," Rick said with a malicious grin.

Rick might have said more to Yelina, but Horatio was making noises in the chair. He had regained consciousness.

"Caine. You decided to join us. Good thing. The show must go on, but it is always better with an audience."

Caine's eyes moved from Stetler to Yelina, growing wide to see she was awake. He tried to say something.

"Don't try to talk Caine, won't do any good. Just sit there like a good boy and watch."

Stetler began to move closer to Yelina's bed. The look in his eyes made Yelina back away from him, towards the headboard. She didn't get very far. Horatio jostled around in the chair doing everything he could think of to get himself out. Stetler grasped the blankets off of her and yanked them back, out of Yelina's grasping fingers.

"Don't fight it, you might get hurt again," Stetler mocked.

Yelina looked around for anything she could grab to protect herself with, hit him with, there was nothing. She was still to weak to fight him off.

Horatio was breathing rapidly through his nose, fighting with everything he had to get out of that chair. He needed to get to Yelina, he could not allow Stetler to do anything more to her.

Stetler brushed aside Yelina's gown, and ripped off her underwear, throwing them off the bed. He unzipped his fly, and before entering her, cautioned, "You want to be careful how much noise you two make. The door is locked, they are giving you privacy, and I'd hate to have to use my gun to prevent any trouble coming in. You wouldn't make it."

Stetler entered Yelina roughly, trying to hurt her. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, and looked away from Stetler so she didn't have to see him do this to her. She met Horatio's eyes; he was looking at her. Willing her strength to get through this? Telling her he wished there was something he could for her? She wasn't quite sure; there was sorrow in his eyes. That much she did know. Stetler rammed into her hard twice more, banging her even harder into the headboard, bringing tears to her eyes. Seeing her cry, Horatio's eye's flooded; he struggled even harder than he had been. It was doing him no good. Stetler got off of Yelina, taking her gown with him, leaving her fully unclothed on the bed. She grabbed the bottom sheet trying to cover herself.

Stetler sauntered over to Horatio. "Enjoy the show, old man?" Horatio looked at him with eyes full of hate. Stetler could just imagine what Horatio would say if that tape weren't covering his mouth. "Say good-night, Horatio." Stetler hit Horatio over the head with his gun, again. Horatio slumped in the chair.

Stetler cut the tape holding Horatio to the chair, and muscled his body over to the bed. He pulled the sheet away from Yelina and forced her into position facing Horatio. He taped their legs together at the calves and thighs, and their wrists together behind the other's back. He also taped their upper arms together, no use letting them get loose, he thought. He sat in the chair and waited for Horatio to come to, kicking his leg in the air; he was going to enjoy the finale.

It was nearing midnight when Horatio woke up. He glanced around as best he could; he saw he was next to Yelina, taped to her no less. Her eyes were closed. Had Stetler knocked her out as well? He wet his lips; the tape was gone.

"Stetler?"

"Ahh, Caine, it's about time. I was beginning to think I was going to have to wake you up after all."

"What do you want Stetler? You already said the door is locked and no one knows you're here. You must have some escape route planned. You've gotten what you wanted? You can leave now. Don't be too confident though, I get out of this, I am hunting you down, you will not escape me."

"Always ready with a smart comment, aren't you Caine? Don't be so quick though. I'm not done, you'll know when I am."

Stetler was still sitting in the chair, now swinging his gun from his finger. He stood up and walked to the side of the bed closest to Yelina. He leaned over and asked her, "Isn't this like all you've ever dreamed of? In his arms until the day you die." Yelina's eyes flew open, she rolled them over to try to see Stetler, and paled, she did not like that tone she could hear in his voice. Till the day she died? He was going to kill her?

Horatio's eyes were filled with rage. "Stetler, haven't you done enough. You damn near killed her."

"She's only damn lucky I didn't. The bitch couldn't stop mooning over you, and was leading me on the whole time. I won't let her get away with that."

"And you, Caine, you wouldn't give her a chance to get over you either. This is all your fault, you know. None of this would have happened if it weren't for you."

Horatio closed his eyes to shut this out. He would never do anything to hurt her; Rick was simply using him as an excuse. Yelina tucked her head onto Horatio's shoulder. This had been too much for her, and she was still so tired.

Stetler stepped away from the bed, and towards the window. Horatio didn't know what Stetler had planned, but he was doing all he could to protect Yelina. He kept his body between Stetler and Yelina. Stetler aimed his gun at the two of them, and mused, "Hmm, beat this, two with one shot." He shot and threw himself out the window in seconds.

Horatio heard the shot, and felt the bullet enter his body nearly simultaneously. He hollered at the pain, and fought not to lose conscious. Yelina. He looked at Yelina. She had jerked her head off his shoulder and was looking at him wild eyed.

He looked down; he could see where the bullet had gone out of him, and into her. Please God, let her make it, he begged silently.

"Yelina? Talk to me Yelina. You hang on, you hear, you hang on. Don't you leave me."

Yelina looked at Horatio, she couldn't feel anything. Horatio saw the blood coming out of the corner of her mouth. "No, Yelina. No!" He kissed her, reaching his hands up as far as he could, he could only just touch the bottom curls of her hair. "I love you, damn it, don't you leave me.

"Horatio…love…you…"

Horatio's eyes filled with tears, he pulled her close to him, as if to give her part of his life force.

Calleigh and Frank had been coming down the hall when they heard the shot. They had been by Horatio's apartment, and finding Eric there, knew that Horatio was here. They wanted to discuss the case with Horatio. They rushed to the room and found the door locked. They forced the door, and found Horatio and Yelina on the bed bound, both of them unconscious. There was glass all over the floor. Quick on their heels were members of the medical staff, they quickly separated Horatio and Yelina and rushed them off to surgery. Frank looked out the window as the victims were leaving the room, and saw Stetler's body on the concrete three stories below. Calleigh and Frank went up to the O.R. to wait on news of their friends.

Horatio woke up in a hospital bed. He groaned and opened his eyes slowly. He tried to push himself and hurt too much to get far.

"Take it easy, Horatio, you're in pretty bad shape."

"Calleigh." He glanced over and saw her sitting in the chair. "How's Yelina?"

"She's pretty bad. She's in intensive care right now. The doctors don't know if she'll make it. She was still pretty weak from the first attack. She doesn't have much left to fight this one. The bullet was a through and through on you, it entered her body on the left side. It had enough energy left to do some damage, but it was lodged inside her. It severed an artery right above her heart. If you had been anywhere else, the doctors wouldn't have been able to do anything at all."

"Stetler?"

"He threw himself through the window, apparently. He died on impact."

Horatio lay back on the bed, grimaced, closed his eyes and sent a thought to Yelina.

"Please hold on, please. Don't you leave me."

Fin


	2. CH 2

Author's Note: I've managed to finish this fiction. Thanks again to Carolina for beta-ing this for me.  Please leave feedback and let me know what you think.

Rated: R

Horatio opened his eyes again; it was still daylight out. He looked around the room. Calleigh was sitting in the chair by his bed.

"Calleigh? How long have I been out?"

"Not quite 24 hours."

Horatio shook his head and tried to sit up in bed again.

"And Yelina? How is she?"

"She's still in critical condition. The doctors have slightly increased her chances of survival."

Horatio had finally gotten himself into a sitting position in the bed.

"What about Ray?"

"Eric has been staying with him. He doesn't know much about what occurred. Just that you weren't going to be able to get back to him for a while. Eric helped him call his grandmother. She arrived at your apartment last night. Ray wanted to stay there, so she is staying there with him, now."

"Okay. Calleigh, I am ready to get out of this room."

Calleigh looked closely at Horatio. She knew his body wasn't up for getting out of that bed, his face told her he was going to get up out of it anyway. There wasn't going to be any stopping him.

"Alright, Horatio, I'll go let the nurse know. Oh, I took the liberty of getting you some clean clothes from your apartment. They're on the foot of your bed."

Calleigh walked out of the room, shaking her head. Horatio still looked so, what, numb? He was still holding everything inside. Only thing that showed through his face was the pain he was in. And his eyes, they were so sad. She looked back again at Horatio, and closed the door.

Horatio reached over and got his clothes off the foot of the bed. He had to move slowly, gritting his teeth to keep the pain from getting the better of him. He slipped his pants on, standing unsteadily to pull them up. Sitting back down, he took the hospital gown off, catching sight of the large bandage on the right side of his chest. He ran his hand over it briefly, and set about putting his shirt on.

The nurse walked in with the discharge papers and a sling in her hand. Calleigh was behind her in the hallway. The nurse helped Horatio finish putting his shirt on, and put his right arm in the sling. He signed the discharge papers, and she left. Calleigh walked into the room.

"Would you like some help, getting up to Yelina's room?"

Horatio glanced at Calleigh, the anger, the pain and the sadness showing on his face for the first time. He looked back down at the buttons he was fastening. "No, no, thank you. I want to do this on my own."

Calleigh nodded her head, understanding. She had thought that he would.

Calleigh stood by the door as Horatio left the room, and they walked down to the elevator together. It took Horatio up to Yelina's floor first. Calleigh watched Horatio walking slowly down the hall as the doors closed, to take her down.

As slowly as Horatio had to walk, Yelina's room felt so far away. It was taking him forever to get there. She was across the hall from the nurse's desk. He stood by the desk for a moment to catch his breath. Then he walked into her room. What he saw made him gasp. He stopped short, catching onto the chair close by for balance.

Yelina was extremely pale. The only things that really held any color were her hair and the wounds on her face. Were it not for the respirator, Horatio could not have even said she was breathing. The heart monitor beeped slowly. His face lost all of its color as he slowly pushed the chair closer to her bed, and edged around it until he could sit down.

He reached for her hand resting on the blanket. It was so cold. He rested it in his hand, running his thumb over the back of it, before he closed his hand gently around her fingers, trying to warm them up. He leaned over, placing his forehead on their clasped hands. Tears fell and his shoulders shook as the sobs racked his body.

He silently berated himself. I didn't do enough. I didn't protect her from this. I didn't keep her safe. I'm going to lose her. God, don't let me lose her. Help her.

Slowly regaining control of his voice, Horatio whispered to Yelina through his tears, "I'm sorry, I am so sorry."

Alarms started sounding in the room. Horatio's head flew up. "No!" Nurses and doctors flew into the room; Horatio was pushed out. He stood in the hallway and watched through the glass as they worked on her. He was watching the heart monitor anxiously. He released the breath he didn't know he was holding when he saw that her heart was beating again. A doctor came out to talk to him.

"Sir, we've got to take her back to surgery. It looks like she may be bleeding internally."

Horatio nodded his head, but he wasn't looking at the doctor. He was watching Yelina as she was being pushed down the hall. He moved past the doctor as he struggled to see her before the doors closed behind her.

Horatio was heading down the hallway to follow her and wait for news when he met Frank.

"Hey, Horatio. I came by to see how you were doing. The nurse said you had been discharged and I came up…" Frank had just then looked at Horatio's face. "What's going on?"

"Yelina's headed back to surgery, Frank."

"What! Why?"

"The doctors think she is bleeding internally."

"Aw, man. I am sorry to hear that. You want me to wait with ya'?"

Horatio shrugged his shoulders and walked away from Frank, towards the O.R. Frank followed closely behind him. They waited in the reception room for any news. Horatio sat in a chair with his head in his hands. Frank sat in a chair opposite him.

After what seemed like ages had past, a doctor came out pulling off his mask.

"Lieutenant Caine?"

"Yes?"

"We found the bleeder, and small fragment of the bullet that was still in her. Don't know how we missed it the first time. She should have an easier time recovering now."

"Alright, thank you."

"Sir, she's going to be in recovery for a while." He pointed to Horatio's shirt; blood was showing through where his bandage was. "Maybe you should go down and have someone replace that bandage for you. Get out of the hospital for a little while. We'll call you when she's out."

Horatio looked down at his shirt, numbly. He hadn't even realized he was bleeding. He looked at the doctor and nodded his head. Frank stood up.

"C'mon Horatio. Let's go downstairs and get that thing replaced. I'll give you a ride to your apartment."

"Yeah, thanks, Frank."

Horatio walked downstairs and a nurse replaced his bandage for him. He walked with Frank back to his car and slumped into the passenger seat. Frank looked at Horatio, he felt he should say something, but he didn't know what. He started the car and drove out of the parking lot towards Horatio's apartment. When they arrived, Frank parked and looked at Horatio again.

"Look, man. I'll stick around here until you get that call, and I'll get you back to the hospital."

Horatio nodded his head and stepped out of the car. He walked slowly up the steps to his apartment and walked in. He saw Ray Jr and his grandmother at the table playing a board game.

"Uncle Horatio!"

"Hey, Ray. How you holding up?"

Ray ran to Horatio and gave him a hug. He cut the hug short and looked at the sling on Horatio's arm and his shirt.

"What happened? Nobody's telling me anything. Why are you bleeding? How's mom."

Horatio looked sadly at Ray and led him over to the couch, sitting by him. Yelina's mom walked into the living room and sat in the chair, looking askance at Horatio. He leaned over and looked Ray in the face.

"Stetler came back. Your mom and I were shot. She's had to go into surgery, twice, again. She's in recovery right now. She should make it. Stetler is gone."

Ray looked at Horatio and curled into his arms. Yelina's mom put her face in her hands, and cried. Horatio leaned back on the couch with Ray in his arms and held him as tightly as he could. Ray's head was hidden in his shoulder; he could feel the wetness through his shirt. Horatio clenched his teeth and rested his chin on Ray's shoulder. He held on tightly to Ray and let him cry. If Stetler weren't already dead, he'd kill him himself. He felt tears rolling down his cheeks and clenched his teeth harder to try to fight them. His body was shaking from the effort to hold his tears in, and Ray's body was shaking from the force of his tears as they came out.

After a while, Ray pulled away from Horatio. Horatio rubbed Ray's back, told him to hang in there, and got up to change his shirt. Yelina's mother went into the bathroom to wash her face. Horatio came back out in the living room and saw Ray sitting there alone on the couch. He sat down again, for a minute, and gave Ray another hug.

"Hey, I'm going to fix myself some coffee. You want some hot chocolate?"

Ray nodded his head and Horatio went into the kitchen. Ray's grandmother came back out and sat down next to Ray. Horatio came back in with hot chocolate for Ray, and a cup of coffee for her. He sat on the chair and sipped at his coffee.

A little while after they were done with their drinks, Horatio's cell phone rang.

"Caine."

"Lieutenant Caine, Detective Salas is back in her room."

"Alright, thank you."

Horatio closed his phone and looked at Ray. "I'm going with you!" Ray said.

"Alright. Detective Tripp is waiting out in the parking lot for us, he'll drive us there. Let's go."

They got into Frank's car and drove to the hospital. Yelina's mother followed them there. She, Horatio, and Ray Jr walked up to Yelina's room. Horatio stood out in the hall and let Yelina's mother go in first, Ray stayed by him. Horatio watched them through the window as Yelina's mom touched Yelina's hand, and her face, combing her fingers through her hair and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek. She wiped her hands across her face and came out.

Ray headed into Yelina's room. "I want you to go with me, Uncle Horatio." Horatio nodded his head and followed him in, leaving his grandmother standing in the hall. Ray stopped a little inside the door; Horatio put his arm around Ray's shoulders. Ray looked up at him, and he nodded his head. Yelina was not moving, still unconscious, but her color was better, Horatio thought. Ray walked close the bed, touching his mom's hand. He gently rubbed his hand up her arm to her face, then to her hair. He was crying again. Horatio heard him whisper "I love you, mom. Get better." After a while, Ray turned and walked back to his uncle. Horatio gathered him in his arms, hugging him tight again as he cried. Tears were running down his cheeks again, it tore him up inside to see them both hurting so much. They turned and walked out of the room. Ray went to his grandmother, and they both walked down the hall to go back to Horatio's apartment.

Horatio walked back into the room and stood by Yelina's bed. He took her hand again; it was warmer this time. He sat down in the chair, not letting go of her hand. He rubbed it with his thumb, brought it to his lips and kissed it, and placed it back on the bed, still in his hand. By all that he had in him, he would see that she would make it.

As nurses went in and out during the day, he stayed by her bed, holding her hand. It was early evening when a doctor came in. Horatio gently placed her hand back on the bed and stood up as he watched the doctor. When the doctor was done, he gestured for Horatio to step outside in the hall with him.

"Well, how is she doing?"

"Better, much better, I'm pleased to say. She keeps on at this rate, come morning, we could take her off the respirator."

"Good. Thank you, doctor."

Horatio watched the doctor walk down the hallway. He was going to go back in there and stay with her, but he was getting a cup of coffee first. Frank found him by the coffee machine as he was finishing his coffee.

"Horatio. How she holding up?"

"Better Frank, thank you."

"Listen Horatio, are you up to talking? I need you to tell me what happened, close this case."

"Yeah, alright Frank."

Horatio told Frank everything that had happened. When he was done, Frank closed his notebook and put it in his pocket. He looked at Horatio, he looked haggard, his face was drawn and his eyes were red. Man, he looked like he needed some rest so he could get better himself; but he wasn't going to be the one to tell him that.

"Okay, thanks Horatio. Hey, you let her know we're rooting for her, ya' hear?"

"Okay, thank you Frank. I will do that."

Horatio went back into Yelina's room and sat with her through the night. The nurses were in and out regularly; a few times they brought him coffee.

In the morning, the doctor came back in and told Horatio they needed him to go for a little while, about an hour or so. There were some things they needed to do. Horatio nodded his head, glanced at Yelina again. She looked better. He walked out of the room, and down to his Hummer. He drove to the apartment to see Ray for a little while and get into some fresh clothes. He changed his bandage again. He sat down and had a little breakfast with Ray Jr and his grandmother.

Horatio got up from the breakfast table, glancing at Ray's grandmother and thanking her for all that she was doing to help. She nodded her head. He looked down at Ray, who was still sitting at the table.

"I'm going to go see your mom again. They were taking her off the respirator this morning…"

Ray nodded his head, but he wasn't quite ready to go back yet. Horatio nodded and pulled Ray into a hug. "She's going to make it Ray, you hear me? She'll be back, as good as ever, real soon. I promise. I'll come back in a little while and let you know how she is, okay?" Ray nodded his head again and sniffled a little bit.

Back at the hospital, Horatio walked back into Yelina's room. She had been taken off the respirator, as well as the heart monitor. It was quiet in the room, save for the slight sound of her breathing. He moved around her bed, straightening the bedclothes, and stopped at the head of her bed. He brushed his fingers over her hair, and looked closely at her. Her lips had their color back; her breathing was strong and steady. His fingers trembled as he gently touched the wounds on her face, and brushed her lips. He traced them down her neck and toward her left shoulder. His eyes welled with tears as he saw the top edge of her bandage and remembered all that Stetler had done to her. He followed the edge of the bandage with his fingers until it disappeared under her gown. He leaned down, lightly brushing his lips across her eyelids and her mouth. Then he stood back, and gazed upon her. A slight smile lifted at the corners of his mouth, she was so beautiful.

He sat down in the chair by her bed. He was hoping she would wake up soon; he was still worried about her. He took her hand, just to hold it. He dozed off. He woke up a little while later; he had felt her fingers move. He looked up at her; her eyes were still closed. He gently squeezed her fingers, and she weakly squeezed his hand back. Horatio stood up and moved closer to her bed, looking down at her hand, and her face.

"Yelina? Come on, baby, show me you're okay."

Yelina squeezed his hand again; he could see her eyes moving slowly behind her eyelids. Her mouth opened slightly, taking a little deeper breath. She winced at the intake. Horatio lifted her hand to his lips, bending down to kiss it.

"It's okay" he whispered. "Take your time."

Her fingers closed around his hand, stronger than before. He squeezed her hand back, tears falling heedlessly at the effort she was making. His girl was strong; she was going to pull through.

He reached up, brushing her hair with his fingers, running his fingers along her eyebrows. He could see she was struggling to open her eyes. A side of his mouth lifted, she wasn't giving up. He brushed his thumb gently across her eyelids.

"It's alright, Yelina. I'm here"

She reached her arm weakly up, her questing hand found his arm, sliding along it until she found his hand. He held tight to her hand, feeding her his strength. She opened her mouth again and took another deep breath. She cracked her eyes open slightly; she was able to see him. Her vision was blurred, but she could see him. She gripped his hand harder and took another deep breath.

"Horatio?" her voice came out in a whisper.

"Yeah, yeah Yelina, I'm here," Horatio's voice cracked.

She pulled his hand to have him come closer. She couldn't see him well; she wanted to see him better. He leaned over her, getting closer. A tear fell on her face. "You're crying," she whispered.

"Yeah, I guess I am." He smiled a little. "You had me worried."

She blinked; she was able to see a little better. She was able to see the sling on his arm. She touched it with her fingers.

"You were shot." Her voice was still a whisper

"Yeah…um, yeah, I was. You too. I'll be okay."

She closed her eyes, whispering "Me, too," as she drifted back into sleep.

Horatio stood up and wiped his eyes. "Yes, Yelina, you too. Now, you get some rest. I've got someone at my apartment worried sick about you. He's going to come see you."

Horatio drove back to his apartment, his heart feeling lighter than it had this morning. He walked quickly up the steps and opened the door to his apartment. Ray Jr and his grandmother were cleaning up from a late lunch.

"Hey, buddy."

"Uncle Horatio!" Ray ran over to Horatio and looked up at him. "How's mom?"

Horatio bent down and looked at Ray, holding one of his arms with his hand. "She's going to be okay. She was awake for a little while. She's asleep again, but I thought you might like to go and see her in a little while."

Ray hugged Horatio, and said "Definitely."

Horatio looked up over Ray's shoulder and saw Yelina's mother smiling and crying. He nodded his head at her, understanding completely, and smiled a little back at her. He stood up, putting his hand on Ray's shoulder.

"Okay buddy. Let's get ourselves cleaned up, and your grandma back into her house and go see your mom."

It was a couple of hours after that; Horatio and Ray were sitting in his Hummer in the hospital parking lot.

Horatio looked at Ray, "You ready?"

Ray nodded his head. Horatio looked at him close, "Hey, it'll be okay. You'll see." Ray nodded again. Horatio rubbed Ray's back and got out, walking around to Ray's side and helping him out. They walked into the hospital, Horatio's arm around Ray's shoulders. They walked into Yelina's room together. Her eyes were closed. Horatio led Ray to the side of the bed, and said "Yelina." Her eyes moved a little. "Yelina, somebody is here to see you." She opened her eyes slowly.

"Hey, kiddo." Her voice was a little stronger now. "How you holding up?"

"Hey mom, I'm okay," Ray's voice cracked a little.

"Come here," she said and held her arm out to Ray.

Ray moved into the shelter of her arm, hugging her gently, afraid to hurt her. She wrapped her arm around him and cradled his head where it was pushed into her shoulder.

"Mom. Mom, I love you. I'm so glad you're okay," Yelina heard Ray say through his tears.

"It's okay, it's okay Ray. I'm alright."

She hugged him as tight as she could and looked over his head. She saw Horatio standing close to the door, watching them, smiling. She smiled back. He left the room for a little while, letting mother and son have a little time together. He came back in as Ray was telling his mom goodnight. Horatio smiled at them. He looked at Yelina.

"I'll take Ray home and get him into bed. Then I can come back in the morning and check on you after Ray is off to school?"

Yelina nodded her head, "That would be nice. Thank you, for everything."

Horatio smiled at her and said, "My pleasure."

Horatio took Ray home and fed him dinner, and got him to bed. He sat on the couch for a little while, until he was sure that Ray was sound asleep. He walked back up the hall after he checked on him, pulled a blanket from the closet, and lay on the couch to sleep. He tossed and turned during the night, his shoulder prevented him from getting comfortable, and he worried about Yelina. When Ray woke up, he got off the couch to help him get ready and drove him to school.

From the school, he drove to the hospital. He looked up at the windows, locating Yelina's. Smiling, he got out of the Hummer; bringing a bouquet of flowers he had bought for her with him. He rode up the elevator and walked down the hall. He walked into her room, and saw that she was sitting up in bed and eating a light breakfast.

"Hey."

"Hi, Horatio." Yelina looked at Horatio and wondered what he was hiding behind his back.

"Brought you some flowers." He brought them out from behind his back, smiling at her.

"Hey, thank you. They're beautiful." She smiled briefly and watched as he put the flowers on the table by her bed; he had to move other vases out of the way to set his down. "I see the department has let you know they're glad you're okay." Horatio chuckled.

"Yeah. All the flowers, they're very pretty. It was very sweet of them, and you."

Something in the tone of her voice caught his attention. He looked at her carefully. "Uh… Yelina…?"

"Look Horatio, it was very sweet of you, really. All those things you said, you know to get a person's heart, make them want to fight harder to survive. Really, thank you."

Horatio looked down at the floor and looked at her. He was glad he had shut the door behind him. "Yelina…"

"No, really, Horatio, it's okay, it helped, really. But it is time for me to face the music, right? When are you going to tell me the truth, eh?"

Horatio shook his head, slowly, and sat down in the chair, facing her. "I was telling you the truth, Yelina." He reached for her hand, which she let him take. He brought it to his mouth and kissed it. "I love you, that is the truth." He turned her hand over and kissed her palm.

She smiled a little at him and closed her fingers, without pulling her hand away. "I want to believe you. I really do. But…"

Horatio raised his eyebrows, "But?"

"Oh, Horatio." Yelina sighed. "I'm sorry, but is what Rick told me true? That little girl, Madison, she's really Ray's daughter not yours?"

Horatio winced and nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah, she's Ray's."

"Why didn't you tell me, huh? He knew, but you couldn't tell me? You wanted to protect me? You thought the right thing to say then was nothing, to let me continue to believe she was yours?"

"I didn't…"

"You didn't what? Get a chance to tell me? It was not the only time my trust in you came up. And you could have told me, we've talked plenty since then."

"I thought…"

"You thought… you were protecting me. Let me think what I needed to think to keep from hurting me, no? And now you think the right thing to tell me now is 'you love me'. The right thing to tell me is the truth. Sure, I would have been hurt knowing she was Ray's, but I already knew about things he was doing, that would have been no far stretch. It hurt me far more thinking she was yours, that I couldn't trust you, that you couldn't tell me the truth. And now?"

"And now…? And now, I am telling you the truth. I have always tried to protect you. I am sorry I didn't tell you about Madison. After our initial conversation concerning her, there never seemed to be a good time to reveal who she was. I never saw an opportunity to discuss it with you that I didn't think it would hurt you, or hurt your chances at happiness. It hurt me to see you hurting. I had hoped you were making a choice that would lead to your happiness. That was most important to me. Like I said before, even when you were with someone else, you were still here. I could live with that. Whatever you needed to make you happy, I didn't want to stand in your way."

Horatio's voice began to crack. "But when I saw you on that floor, and I realized you might not even live for me to see you with someone else, my heart was on the floor by you. I couldn't have lived with that. I felt like it was my fault, I hadn't done enough. I hadn't stepped in strong enough when I suspected, hell, when I knew Stetler was hitting you. And for that, I was losing you. I don't want to lose you Yelina. I want you with me. You're in my heart; I want you in my life. I don't want to be a bystander anymore."

Horatio was still holding Yelina's hand. She could feel it shaking as he spoke to her. She looked up at his face. She had rarely seen him look so tired, and so sad. It hurt her inside to know that she was the cause of that. She thought about what he said; maybe a lot of it was true. Maybe she hadn't really given him a chance that night when she saw Madison. Had she jumped to conclusions and not realized it at the time? Would there really ever have been a good time to tell her, if his goal was to keep her from being hurt? It would have only added to her sense of betrayal, saddened further her memories of Raymond. She closed her eyes; she was too tired to think about all of this right now. She kept them shut; she didn't want to see Horatio's face when she said what she needed to right now.

"Horatio…"

"Yelina, let me finish. I didn't tell you how I felt simply to help you pull through. What I told you, what I said to you, I meant every word of it. I…"

"No, Horatio, please stop. I can't do this right now. I need time to think. I need to be alone, please."

He still held her hand, his hand shaking even more now as he gently laid it back on the bed. He took a moment to answer, clearing his throat. "Okay…um…alright Yelina. I…um… I guess I understand." Horatio stood up, looking at Yelina. "I…" He shook his head. "Okay. You…um… you let me know if you need anything, okay? Ray can stay with me until you're able to go home." Yelina nodded her head and kept her eyes closed. She heard Horatio open the door, and heard him step out. The sound of his footsteps dissipated as he went further down the hall. She lay back in the bed, and wiped tears off her face.

Over the next few days, Horatio drove Ray to school, and drove to the lab. He was not on active duty, and wouldn't be until he healed. But he was able to take the time to finish up his paperwork. Thankfully nothing that required his full concentration, so much of it was already devoted to Yelina and how she was doing. He was able to get out of the lab in time to pick Ray up from school. He would take him by the hospital first, so he could see his mom. Horatio would walk up with him, take a few minutes to find out how Yelina was doing, and then he would leave the two of them alone. He knew they needed the time together so they both could heal. He would come back to the room a while after, tell Yelina good night and take Ray back to his apartment with him. It was the second night that she told him before he left that the doctors had told her she could go home the next day. Horatio nodded his head and offered her a ride, which she accepted.

"I'll see you in the morning, then." Horatio said as he left the room.

That night after Ray was asleep, he left the apartment, got in his Hummer, and drove down the street. He stopped at Yelina's house, pulling into the driveway. He took a ragged breath, looking at the house. He grabbed the old towels he had brought with him, unlocked the front door and went inside.

Everything was nearly the same as it was the night that he had left it in such a hurry. He found a spray bottle of cleaner; using it to spray the kitchen floor and wiping it clean with one of the towels. His hands were shaking when he sprayed it again, taking another towel and cleaning it again. He walked around the house, cleaning up the broken glass he found, wiping off all the fingerprint dust. He found the phone, and replaced in its cradle. When he was done and ready to leave, anybody that didn't know wouldn't think anything had happened here. He left the house, locking the door behind him; carrying the plastic sac he had put the towels and glass in. On the way back to his apartment, he saw a burn barrel in an alley. Pulling off the road, he threw the sac of towels in the barrel, and watched them burn. The firelight revealed his pain and anger in flashes. He returned to his Hummer, and drove back to his apartment.

Horatio got up the next morning and took Ray to school, reminding him he could take the bus to his own home today. Ray smiled and nodded, "It'll be great to have mom home again." Horatio ruffled his hair and told him he would see him soon. Then he drove to the hospital to pick up Yelina. When he arrived, she was ready to go. He walked with the nurse as she pushed Yelina's wheelchair out to his Hummer, and he helped her get in. They drove to her house, pulling into the driveway. He went around to her side, holding her door open as she got out. Yelina looked up at the house and back at Horatio.

"Will you come in with me?"

"Of course."

They walked into the house together. Yelina looked around, relieved that there were no signs of the other night.

"Thank you, Horatio, for cleaning it up."

"You're welcome"

She turned around. He had closed the door behind them, and was still standing close to it. He was holding himself distant from her, she understood why. And she had had plenty of time to think while she had lain in that bed. She moved to stand close by him. She took both his hands; he looked at her. She took a deep breath; she hoped she hadn't pushed him too far this time. She walked over to the couch, leading him, and sat down. Horatio sat down by her, and she turned so she could look at him.

"Horatio, you were right. I didn't let you explain things that night, I jumped to conclusions, I was angry. And there wasn't any other time that would have been good for you to tell me. I believe you, when you say that you would have told me given the right opportunity. I was upset, and I am upset. But I see that I was partly to blame for this too. And I am sorry."

Horatio compressed his lips and nodded his head. He was hurting inside, the pain showed in his eyes. He waited for her to finish.

"It meant so much to me that you were there. I think there were points where I realize I might not have made it. You were my lifeline; you helped me through. I could feel your strength when I didn't have any left. And I want you to know, if you don't already. Horatio, I love you, very much. I don't want you to be a bystander to my life, anymore, either."

She could feel his hands shaking; his eyes were searching her face, looking in her eyes. She smiled faintly, and pulled herself closer, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him. "Horatio, I believe every word you said. I am sorry I doubted you." He raised his arms and hugged her closely. She could feel his heart pounding through his chest, and felt her heart pounding as hard. He whispered, "I love you so much, Yelina, so much."

She kissed his neck, felt his pulse bounding under her lips. She felt him kiss her neck, right under her ear. He ran his hands over her back until he buried his fingers in her hair. She ran her lips along his jaw as he buried his hands in her hair and pulled her head back slightly. She looked in his eyes, and was lost in their depths. He gently placed his mouth on hers, kissing her. She opened her lips, letting him in. They were both breathing raggedly. She caressed his back; she could feel the warmth of his skin through his shirt. She wanted to feel his skin, and pulled his shirttails out so she could. She could hear him gasp slightly as skin touched skin. She rubbed her fingers along his abdomen. Horatio lowered one of his hands to the small of her back. Moving, he lowered her gently to lie on the couch, never breaking contact with her mouth. He raised his head from hers, looking into those brown depths. His voice was husky when asked her "Are you sure you are ready for this?" She nodded her head; she was ready for this with him. He smiled, kissed her again, gently. This first time was so special, it required gentle handling, and he made love to her in great tenderness.

They lay next to one another, spent, and covered with the blanket from the back of the couch. Yelina had fallen asleep when they were finished. He buried his face in her hair, whispering to her how much he loved her.

Fin


End file.
